Yogurt Parfaits for Young Cooks

Parfaits are endlessly adaptable, impossible to mess up, and a joy to make with young chefs. They can be made ahead of time or eaten immediately and are a fun homemade treat, especially when kids can surprise someone with a dish that they made themselves!

Serves 4
Time investment: approximately 10 minutes, depending on how much prep the fruit requires. All quantities are approximate. No need for precise measurements!

You will need the following:

About 2 cups of your favorite yogurt (non-dairy also works fine)

About 1 cup of your preferred granola

About 2 cups of fruit, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces as needed. If you’re feeling fancy, you can use more than one kind of fruit.

Spoons for conveying the fruit/granola/yogurt to the cups

4 transparent cups/glasses/small bowls

Before doing anything else, all cooks should wash their hands.

Begin by plopping a heaping spoonful of yogurt into the bottom of each cup and smushing it around a bit so that it’s a relatively flat layer. There is no wrong way to do this.

Decide what you would like to use in the next layer. Fruit? Granola? Again, you cannot go wrong.

The next layer is the ingredient that you did not use in the previous two layers.

Continue layering until the cups are filled.

Notes:

If you are not too exhausted and would like to seize a teachable moment, you can discuss the intricacies of repeating patterns. Nobody will think you are a bad parent for not doing this.

Parfaits can be eaten immediately or saved, covered, in the refrigerator. Know that if they are saved for later, the granola will soften a bit. This may matter more to some cooks than to others.

Cooks who are old enough to handle a butter knife may enjoy slicing bananas for parfaits. (Be aware that bananas exposed to air will eventually turn an unappetizing shade of brown.)

Cindy has worked for What's Up for Kids for over 19 years and is thrilled to take over as owner/publisher. She loves helping South Bay parents connect with resources and working with camps, schools and other businesses to get the word out about their quality programs and services for families. For marketing information you can contact her at cindy@whatsupforkids.com.